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Florida Senators Say Venezuela Is National Security Issue

Fernando Llano
/
AP via Miami Herald

Florida's U.S. senators are increasing pressure on the Trump administration to act on the crisis in Venezuela, calling it a national security matter.

After a Friday discussion with Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan exiles, Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio chastised Cuba for aiding socialist president Nicolas Maduro in a standoff with U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

The Cuban government denies accusations that it has troops in Venezuela.

The U.S. and more than 50 nations view Maduro's re-election last year as illegitimate because of fraud.

Scott said the U.S. military must deliver humanitarian aid to stop what he called a "genocide." Rubio said the U.S. government must be prepared to face Venezuela, and suggested the militant Hezbollah group is present in the South American nation.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.
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